Consumers of articles, such as sanitary tissue products, for example paper towels, desire improved roll bulk and/or wet and/or dry sheet bulk compared to known sanitary tissue products, especially paper towels, without negatively impacting the softness and/or stiffness and/or flexibility of the sanitary tissue product. In the past, in order to achieve greater roll bulk and/or wet and/or dry sheet bulk in sanitary issue products, such as paper towels, the softness and/or stiffness and/or flexibility of the sanitary tissue products was negatively impacted.
Consumers of articles, such as sanitary tissue products, for example paper towels, desire improved absorbency compared to known sanitary tissue products, especially paper towels, without negatively impacting the softness and/or stiffness and/or flexibility of the sanitary tissue product. In the past, in order to achieve greater absorbency in sanitary issue products, such as paper towels, the softness and/or stiffness and/or flexibility of the sanitary tissue products were negatively impacted.
Consumers of articles, such as sanitary tissue products, for example paper towels, desire improved absorbency compared to known sanitary tissue products, especially paper towels, without negatively impacting the strength of the sanitary tissue product. In the past, in order to achieve greater absorbency in sanitary issue products, such as paper towels, the strength of the sanitary tissue products was negatively impacted.
Consumers of articles, such as sanitary tissue products, for example paper towels, desire improved hand protection during use compared to known sanitary tissue products, especially paper towels, without negatively impacting absorbency. In the past, in order to achieve greater hand protection in sanitary issue products, such as paper towels, the absorbency of the sanitary tissue products was negatively impacted.
Consumers of articles, such as sanitary tissue products, for example paper towels, desire improved roll bulk and/or wet and/or dry sheet bulk compared to known sanitary tissue products, especially paper towels, without negatively impacting the opacity of the sanitary tissue product. In the past, in order to achieve greater roll bulk and/or wet and/or dry sheet bulk in sanitary issue products, such as paper towels, the opacity of the sanitary tissue products was negatively impacted.
Consumers of articles, such as sanitary tissue products, for example paper towels, desire improved reopenability during use compared to known sanitary tissue products, especially paper towels, without negatively impacting absorbency. In the past, in order to achieve improved reopenability in sanitary issue products, such as paper towels, the absorbency of the sanitary tissue products was negatively impacted.
Consumers of articles, such as sanitary tissue products, for example paper towels, desire improved absorbency, especially absorbent capacity, compared to known sanitary tissue products, especially paper towels, without negatively impacting the surface drying of the sanitary tissue product. In the past, in order to achieve greater absorbency in sanitary issue products, such as paper towels, the surface drying of the sanitary tissue products was negatively impacted.
Consumers of articles, such as sanitary tissue products, for example paper towels, desire improved wet sheet bulk during use, compared to known sanitary tissue products, especially paper towels, without negatively impacting the surface drying of the sanitary tissue product. In the past, in order to achieve greater wet sheet bulk in sanitary issue products, such as paper towels, the surface drying of the sanitary tissue products was negatively impacted.
In the past, fibers, such as cellulose pulp fibers, have been used in known fibrous structures to achieve bulk and absorbency properties in articles, such as sanitary tissue products, for example paper towels, but such bulk and absorbency properties have been plagued with negatives as described above, such as softness and/or flexibility and/or stiffness negatives and/or the ability to maintain the bulk properties when wet. Examples of such known articles comprising such fibrous structures are described below.
Articles comprising fibrous structures comprising a plurality of fibrous elements, for example filaments and fibers, wherein the articles exhibit differential cellulose content throughout the thickness of the article are known. One prior art article 10 comprising a fibrous structure comprising a plurality of fibrous elements (filaments and/or fibers) as shown in Prior Art FIG. 1 comprises a meltblown or spunbond polymeric abrasive layer 12 and an absorbent layer 14, such as a wet-laid fibrous structure, a coform fibrous structure, or an air-laid fibrous structure. In one example, the cellulose content throughout the thickness T (along the z-axis) of the prior art article 10 when the absorbent layer 14 is a wet-laid or air-laid fibrous structure is such that a first portion, for example the abrasive layer 12, of the prior art article 10 exhibits a cellulose content of less than 40%, for example about 0% by weight of the fibrous elements in the first portion, and a second portion of the prior art article 10, for example the absorbent layer 14; namely, the wet-laid or air-laid fibrous structure, exhibits a cellulose content of 95% to 100%, for example 100% by weight of the fibrous elements in the second portion.
In another example of Prior Art FIG. 1, the cellulose content throughout the thickness T of the prior art article 10 when the absorbent layer 14 is a coform fibrous structure is such that a first portion, for example the abrasive layer 12, of the prior art article 10 exhibits a cellulose content of less than 40%, for example about 0% by weight of the fibrous elements in the first portion, and a second portion, for example the absorbent layer 14; namely, the coform fibrous structure, exhibits a cellulose content of 40% to less than 95% by weight of the fibrous elements in the second portion.
As shown in Prior Art FIG. 1, the prior art article 10 fails to teach a cellulose content such that the cellulose content of a first portion of the prior art article 10 is from 0% to less than 40% by weight of the fibrous elements in the first portion, the cellulose content of a second portion of the prior art article 10 different from the first portion is from 40% to less than 93% by weight of the fibrous elements in the second portion, and the cellulose content of a third portion of the prior art article 10 different from the first and second portions is 93% to 100% by weight of the fibrous elements in the third portion, and wherein at least the second portion comprises a mixture of filaments and fibers.
Accordingly, there is a need for articles comprising fibrous structures that exhibit novel differential cellulose content that results in the articles exhibiting improved bulk and/or absorbent properties that are consumer acceptable that maintain sufficient such bulk properties when wet during use by consumers and/or without negatively impacting and/or improving the softness and/or flexibility and/or stiffness of such articles and methods for making same.